I’m currently in the end stages of writing my travel memoir set in Vietnam and Cambodia. I know I’ve said this before but this time it’s gotta be true. It’s based on a pilgrimage trip I took in 2009 searching for traces of the French writer Marguerite Duras who lived the early days of her life there. Twelve years down the track,  I’m almost done. It’s taken a number of years working on and off, (some years I didn’t touch it) and gone through many drafts and different versions.

But now I’m nearly at the finish line, I’m avoiding the final brush strokes.

Ah, remember the early days of writing your book? Messing around with mind maps, collecting images, cuttings and random ideas in your scrap book, writing with wild abandon, going with the flow, not censoring or editing —every idea  pregnant with potential!

By the time you get to the almost end, you are sooo over it. You’ve written umpteen drafts, given it to readers, made all the suggested changes, added in this, taken out that, added it back in again…

Resistence to finishing is different to writer’s block — you have no more to say really, it’s more a matter of moving things around, tightening,refining, checking mundane things like punctuation, formatting, typos. (How do those typos manage to sneak back in!)

All you need to do is add the finishing touches, why is that so hard, what are you afraid of?

Good old fear, hello again. Fear of finishing must surely be about fear of exposure — is my book good enough, am I good enough, will it be rejected, will I be rejected, will I be the laughing stock, will people say ‘ Oh I enjoyed your book’ and will I be translating that as ‘Oh I hated your book?

Ok, if you are having the same problem, there’s a way to do this. Make a list of all fears about the book, then simply counter it with an antidote, feeling free to exaggerate. See how it changes the energy.

Everyone will hate my book. <> Everyone will love my book!

I’ll be rejected by all the publishers I approach. <> All the publishers I approach want my book!

I’ll be the laughing stock <> My book will be so successful, I’ll be laughing my way to the bank!

The question is, as I’m really busy at the moment, how am I going to find time to do all these finishing off things?

Ok, here’s my plan…

I’m an early waker so instead of checking the time on my phone and spending the next two hours reading news and soc media, I’m buying a small clock and setting aside early mornings for writing.

In my early morning sessions I will go through the latest notes given by my friend and editor Helen Williams and make suggested changes.  (It’s so handy to have an editor friend!  She does it for a living and I can def recommend her. Get in touch if you’d like her contact details).

I’ll be systematic, I won’t get caught up in fears or emotions.  I will be positive and will give myself the task also of rewriting my synopsis and composing a letter to potential publishers.

I’ve already started this morning at 5.58 am. It’s now 9 am, and as you are my witness I will continue this way until my book is done!

Speaking the word always helps

Thank you for being there!